


Paint the town: Grey, Purple and Bronze

by DyingInside_Always



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Acquaintance to friends to lovers, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Anxiety, Being fake, Crushes, Depression, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Homestuck - Freeform, Humanstuck, M/M, Referenced Synesthesia, Smut, Strangers to Lovers, Suicidal Thoughts, Synesthesia, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-05 17:43:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17923424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DyingInside_Always/pseuds/DyingInside_Always
Summary: There seems to be some underlying force at work here - why else would it be that their skin, hair and eyes slowly turn grey the sadder they become. Gamzee's been hiding just how grey he is for a long time now, and he thinks he's been doing incredibly well - an attractive acquaintance of his disagrees.





	Paint the town: Grey, Purple and Bronze

**Author's Note:**

> Been craving good Gamtav shit for a while - got the urge to write the thing so I did it. Will continue, but may not be for a while, have final exams coming up and need to prepare for that shit :)

Exhaling long and hard, a cloud of smoke came trailing out of dark grey lips. Eyes like daggers fixed on anything outside his bedroom window, Gamzee Makara began to feel that familiar rush – that fake emotion building in his system again, his distraction. After his first joint, the feeling of panic and anxiety over what should happen if his dad or brother should find out seemed to last the entire high, as if heightened. Now, after years of developing a habit, he’d lost all care for if they found out, lost care for if his friends found out. It didn’t matter anymore – none of it mattered. School started in a mere hour and he had to catch the bus in half that time. He had time. Tapping what remained of the blunt on his bedroom window, he dropped the rest of it into the abyss below. “Bon Voyage” he joked, rolling his eyes. Grasping a palette of face paint from his side dresser, he sat down and stared at his reflection. Every inch of skin that showed, his arms, neck, face – a matte shade of grey, the colour of his eyes having faded to the same shade. The tracks of tears once shed left darker greys across his face. His hair, though it was genuinely the same shade of grey, had been dyed black to avoid the looks – the conversation that was bound to happen. No one knew where his money went, the money he worked for always disappeared. It fed an addiction of fake joy and a persona that was the only one his friend-group knew. Finishing apply cold paint to his face, a look that was iconic to him became realized once again. If only anyone knew what else was going on, they would understand why everyday was such a fucking struggle. Picking up his bag, he walked out the door – leaving behind a dead house, where the walls were tall and as dull as he himself had become; and the life he made up for inside it, as fake as his identity.

Arriving at school, it didn’t surprise him that he was arriving just as the bell rang. He made no attempt to rush to his first class of the day, happy to lazily walk behind rushing students up to the first floor and to his English classroom, where he took a seat and paid little to no attention to what was going on. The bonus of working where he sat, he had the perfect view outside the window. He had already made his mark that he had little to no care about what was going on and would answer written questions perfectly anyway – he also knew it drove his teacher fucking mental, but she couldn’t exactly argue with him over it, because who argues with a good student? Well. ‘Good’. The sky was a perfect pastel blue, and the clouds reflected the sun rise he’d missed earlier that morning; dusty pink and bright orange. Cars drove past the school in silence, revered. The people around him spoke in hushed whispers, each voice as bright as the next; sometimes they would taste different from one another, and sometimes different words kicked off different colours – if you had asked him a year ago to identify which voice was which colour, he could tell you, but now, they all blended together, into a mess of hyper-sensitivity, black and white and grey.

Leaning back in his chair, a tap on his shoulder got his attention. Turning his head slightly, the voice whispered into his ear harshly. “Late again? Can’t believe I didn’t expect it to be fair” Laughing at her comment, the ever-disgusting scent of sea-glass teal washed over him.

“Always a disappointment” He retorted, smiling lazily – fake. Snorting, she chipped off his shoulder as he turned around to face her. The two absolutely despised each other, there was no denying that – their friendship group could feel how much tension there was between them. The fake grin that stretched lazily across her face. Her natural almost orange ginger hair showed no chance of fading, to his disappointment – having always wished her to go through the same issues he did. The cruel feeling in his gut made him uneasy, but not unhappy.

“Yeah, no chance of that changing anytime soon” Malice lacing her tone, the anger that boiled at the comment distracted him from the sound of the door opening. It was the sound of it shutting and the teacher speaking that turned his attention to the door.

“Ah, yes, late a-. Huh, and you are?” The teacher’s voice dripped in confusion, obviously unsure of who the person at the door was – probably having expected someone who was absent from class, plenty ditched his English because of how awful his teacher was so, turning around, he was surprised to see a face he recognized but didn’t fully know. It was impossible to miss, the boy practically radiated colour and warmth; beige, bronze and soft orange. Tanned skin and brown eyes, Gamzee had once commented to a friend on how attractive he found the guy – turned out he wasn’t alone.

“Nitram, Miss, but you can call me Tavros” He spoke in a manner that was almost completely rehearsed. Like he knew exactly what was coming and had prepared for it. “I was transferred across to your class; there were some issues involving another student and me in my old one – I thought you would have been told?” Sitting up slightly in his seat, he watched the other boy wait patiently as the teacher began surfing through emails and messages looking for some form of notification on this issue. The boy stood, patiently waiting but growing visibly more nervous as time wore on. Tapping his foot, he began looking around the class. His eye lay on certain people, some caused an eyebrow quirk, some caused noticeable discomfort – but when his eyes lay on Gamzee he paused. His facial expression dropped, and his hand went to his mouth. Gamzee grinned at him; completely fake, and overly so in his opinion. Tavros, as he had just learned, softly smiled back. But Gamzee’s stomach dropped. That wasn’t a normal smile – that was a pity smile… Why-?

“AH! Yes, now I see! Mr Nitram, if you could take a seat next to Miss Pyrope that would be fantastic” The audible sound of dismissal and disgust came rushing through Terezi’s mouth and it set Gamzee’s teeth on edge, though he wouldn’t let this show.

He payed the most attention to a class he had ever done because Tavros was a genius. He answered every question impeccably, and when Terezi became visibly annoyed with being sat next to a goody two-shoes, he didn’t let it faze him, carrying on with his work. Almost near the end of the lesson, Terezi leaned forward and tapped Gamzee on the shoulder, much to Tavros’s confusion.

“What?” He asked, leaning back.

“Are you coming with us at break today or are you going to avoid us again? You know I can read you pretty well – your actions are so fucking predictable its irritating” Terezi spoke.

“My choice are my motherfucking own Pyrope, and if you’ve got an issue with it, can it, because I don’t want to hear it” He spoke back with a voice of pure venom; if he weren’t so far into dull, he knew it would have sparked a sickly but bright green in his voice, “If you don’t all up and motherfucking mind, I’ll be keeping to my own today, especially if you’re around” Violently batting her hand off his shoulder, he turned back around, acutely aware of eyes following him.

“What’s your issue?” She spoke again, obviously directed at Gamzee.

“I mean not to interrupt, but, uh, I believe he told you to can it?” Surprise overtook the lack of feeling as Tavros spoke on his behalf, “I would not appreciate being involved in a fight on my first day in this class so, you would be best to keep to yourself” He could practically feel the rage coming off of Terezi. She turned around to the boy next to her, one of her classic ‘fuck off’ grins on her face.

“Yes, it’s very obvious you’re new here, because that is not how I work, especially not with Ga-”

“Alright! Pack up!” The teacher dismissed, much to Terezi’s anger, as she had been all set on mouthing this guy out. Grabbing her bag, which had been untouched the entire lesson, Terezi departed her desk to stand by the door, walking more like stomping towards the door.

“Thank you” Gamzee breathed, looking back at large round brown eyes which offered a small smile once again as he packed up his things. As he zipped it up, the bell rang.

“It’s alright – I’d pretty much do anything to help a grey” Eyes blown wide, Gamzee’s smile dropped. Tavros stood up as if he hadn’t just dropped an atomic bomb on truth on Gamzee, “Let me know if you need anything, okay?” He spoke quietly, before leaving, Gamzee sitting dumbfounded in his wake.

**Author's Note:**

> Send me shit on my tumblr! https://dyinginside-always.tumblr.com/


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